Xbox Australia Update: Video on Demand

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The latest news about pricing, timing and a few nuggets to gleam.

By Patrick Kolan

In the world of Xbox Live content, Australia and New Zealand has been handed the short end of the stick all-too-often. Even the most recent major update – the inclusion of direct-download games – has been marred with a pricing scheme that is clearly out of line with the rest of the world.

Today, however, Microsoft Australia is promising to right some wrongs with the upcoming 'Movies on Demand' service for Xbox live. As part of a showcase wrap-up of Xbox Live's late-2009 service updates for Australians, which includes Facebook and Twitter integration, the service will offer full-HD movie streaming and downloads for Aussie Xbox Live users.

According to MS Australia Senior Product Manager, Andrew Jenkins, the service will launch simultaneously worldwide – and Australia, happily, is included in the launch plans.

At this stage, that specific release date is still up in the air – as is, critically, the pricing strategy. According to Jenkins, the pricing will be "competitive and Microsoft Australia are currently looking at the market and its demands and expectations to determine the price point for videos".

At this stage, telecommunications provider, iiNet Australia, have an ongoing arrangement with Microsoft to allow Xbox Live users unlimited downloads from the service without using up monthly data allowance. According to Jenkins, Microsoft is still in talks with other providers to create a similar arrangement with other internet service providers. He is adamant that the service will not be delayed in the region.

Regardless of your ISP, streaming movies will use up approximately 4Mb of bandwidth per second to stream, while full HD movie downloads take up several GBs of space.

Finally, Jenkins assured IGN AU that Microsoft Australia is continuing to look at the current pricing strategies of its 'Games on Demand' service. He believes that ultimately users will decide with their wallets – and if the adoption of these games isn't satisfactory, then you can expect Microsoft to take action accordingly. He declined to provide IGN AU with the latest figures, only alluding that Avatar item sales have exceeded expectation and the latest update is performing very well.